The ship was designed by Raymond Loewy in 1933 for the Virginia Ferry Company, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad for whom Loewy had done a great deal of design work. Using the hull of an older ferry from within the VFC's fleet as a basis, he created a streamlined superstructure that Christopher Innes has described as possibly influenced by Norman Bel Geddes' 1932 Streamlined Ocean Liner The paintwork emphasized the sleek form with one unbroken line flowing from stem to stern.
